


It Takes Work

by MushroomSoupScentedShampoo



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: AU, Comfort, Established Relationship, Feels, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gaster - Freeform, M/M, No Smut, Royal Scientist, Science, The Void, Underswap Papyrus x Reader - Freeform, WD Gaster - Freeform, male reader - Freeform, underswap - Freeform, undertale - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-10
Updated: 2020-12-10
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:00:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27964937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MushroomSoupScentedShampoo/pseuds/MushroomSoupScentedShampoo
Summary: Papyrus has a huge secret to keep. He's trying to bring his father back from the void, to help him with him make magic more accessible to humans. Work is very frustrating, but at the end of the day, you always make everything seem better.Warning - this one's a bit long before it actually gets to the fluffy stuff. I'm considering going deeper into the story in future chapters. For now it's just a oneshot, but that is subject to change :)
Relationships: Papyrus (Underswap)/Male Reader
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	It Takes Work

Your eyes opened to a dark room. You looked to your left and Papyrus was shifting onto his other side. His furrowed brow bones told you that he was having a nightmare. You lightly shook his shoulder.

"Pap. Papyrus, wake up, it's just a dream," He was in deep sleep. You shook his arm a little harder, and the volume of your voice rose. "You're okay. Just a dream, baby, wake up, please,"

When he opened his eyes, a familiar orange flicker in his eye set his face alight. This wasn't the first time this week he'd been having nightmares. He was breathing hard, clutching the sheets.

"Better?" you asked. He nodded. "It's already 5:30. You okay with getting up this early?" You were no stranger to early mornings, since the long drive to your workplace called for an early rise. Papyrus could always teleport you, true, but it drained him.

"I'm fine. It was the same one as usual. You were there this time," he added. He was sitting up now, with a hand to his forehead. He looked like he hadn't slept at all.

You knew the dreams he had were about "RESETS", as he called them. His nightmares consisted of the human child, Frisk, and how they possessed Chara, committing mass genocide. Chara hadn't RESET the timeline in 3 years, according to Papyrus. He feared the day that the child might use it again. You prayed, for his sake, that Frisk would never reappear.

He was finally recovering, under your care and Sans's, but you knew those nightmares would never go away. You didn't have the power to see past timelines, and considered yourself lucky. There were, once, times when you questioned his ability to see through timelines, but after seeing with your own eyes that magic was real, you didn't dare question anything ever again.

"Do you want me to stay for a little while?" you offered. "It's not a big deal. I can afford to be a little late."

"Nah, it's ok. I might take this opportunity to get to the Lab early, get some stuff done."

"Sounds good to me!" you smiled. After Undyne had been dismissed as the head Royal Scientist, Sans urged Papyrus to fill her void. Their father had been the Royal Scientist before her. Papyrus had dabbled in science for most of his life. He was experimented on in his early days, guessed that could've been the source of his and Sans's strong magic attacks.

He was on the brink of creating something that would help humans learn how to use magic. In the time of the War of Humans and Monsters, magicians were more abundant. Seven of the best magicians came together to seal the monsters in the Underground. After hundreds of years, humans no longer needed that magic. Technology took its place, and magic became a thing that only existed in fairy tales.

Papyrus had no intention of profiting off of his idea. He knew all too well that humans with that incredible power could (and would) cause greater wars than history had ever seen. So he kept his idea a secret, selling little magic trinkets and toys instead. He was quite the quick worker, once he started a project that interested him. Only you, Sans, Muffet and Undyne knew of his big project. Undyne worked alongside him, from time to time, even though she wasn't really supposed to.

"What do you want for breakfast?" you asked. He said he was fine with anything, so you made eggs. You were both out the door pretty soon.

But you weren't actually going to work. You would be turning around as soon as you were sure that Papyrus made it to the Lab.

You didn't like keeping secrets, but you didn't want to dampen Papyrus's already terrible mood. Last week, when your company had started a new project, they needed to hire an entirely new team with an entirely different skill set. The budget had already been insanely tight. Last month, they had to drop the costs on older products to increase their sales, but it didn't work as well as they planned. They were about to be knee-deep in debt unless they did something.

But one of the CEOs had an idea. Since the new team had a more time-efficient and modern skillset, they could replace one of the old teams, on top of doing their own work. You had been on the team they decided to fire. You couldn't help but feel a little sorry for the new team. They had difficult work ahead of them.

You'd been looking for a new job for just under a week, with little to no success. You were almost at the point of working at a fast food place, but you weren't yet desperate enough to lower yourself to those standards. Besides, Sans would hate you forever if you did.

After thoroughly searching the neighboring city's website for a well-paying job, you realized that your situation might be more permanent than was ideal. You'd have to tell Papyrus soon, because your last paycheck would be coming in early tomorrow morning. It was becoming a very stressful day, so you ended up just scrolling through social media in a trance-like state for the remainder of the day.

When Papyrus got to the lab, Undyne was already there. You knew she helped him, but you didn't know that without her help, he wouldn't have gotten anywhere. Despite losing her position, she was still the only person that WD Gaster had trusted with his research papers. Queen Toriel allowed her to keep them when she was fired, not truly realizing their importance. Undyne didn't really know, either. She'd always been too preoccupied with trying to cure the Amalgamates to delve into projects of her own.

But Papyrus knew. He could read the character-based language they were written in, thanks to his bilingual upbringing. Undyne knew a little bit, but she was rusty at best. It didn't matter, anyway. She wasn't there for interpretation. She was there to help.

Papyrus definitely needed her help that day. The vision from his nightmare kept returning, and he could barely stay on task. Undyne had to keep reminding him why they were there. Their "big project", the one that very few knew about, had more than one purpose. This was something that only Papyrus knew. When it would release its huge wave to reawaken the magic in humans, he knew that energy had to come from somewhere.

Papyrus was trying to figure out how to tap into the energy of RESETS. He knew that Chara could not complete a full RESET on their own. They had to have some kind of power source to do something so significant. He realized that anyone could find that source, if they tried hard enough. That was why Papyrus planned to use up every last bit of that energy. He was tired of the fear of being thrown back into the Underground again. Tired of seeing his little brother go through phases of his life over and over again, with no memory of his previous lifetimes.

There was only one problem. He couldn't find it without his father. Chara, Frisk and Gaster were the only ones who knew how to RESET. Other than Temmie, anyway. But Temmie had released the human SOULs, and no longer held that kind of power. Papyrus didn't want to take his chances by asking Chara. He didn't want them knowing about the project. So before he could even start up his machine, he had to find his old man.

Undyne had been working on a prototype (with no success) before she had started experimenting with DETERMINATION. Supposedly, Gaster was stuck in some kind of "void". It was a space between reality and time that, apparently, had no exit. There wasn't much in there - other than an insane amount of fresh, harvestable energy. Gaster found a way to get in, but failed to plan past that point. Because that void was inaccessible by all means, only Papyrus remembered him. His self-awareness (in terms of space and time) was what allowed him to remember.

Once in a while, Papyrus caught a glimpse of the void's entrance. Those openings were sporadic, and had no trackable location. Papyrus didn't know how his father had figured out its pattern. That was one of the things he'd never written down. Gaster, like Papyrus, was smart enough to realize that certain people should not have access to that kind of power. Papyrus was then stuck, on his own, trying to get a better idea of how and when to access the openings. They were both the source of energy that he needed, and the entrance to the void. It was a very frustrating loop. He rarely made progress.

In the meantime, the two of them worked on smaller projects. Papyrus’s job was combining human technology with monster magic. He didn’t get paid to laze around, as much as he wished he could. He was less of a scientist and more an inventor. His work was profitable, and steadily becoming a well-known brand. He had to share his profits with Toriel, of course, as required by the Royal Scientist. But he had more than he ever needed.

That day, he was working to combine the magic of elemental monsters and kitchen appliances. His personal favorite of the series was a hotdog roller, inspired by the small business owner, Grillby. Undyne liked the idea of a fridge that, instead of chilling foods, kept them warm. She had yet to persuade Papyrus to work on it. 

The day was done much easier than expected, until Papyrus got a call from Asgore. As much as Papyurs had enjoyed exchanging jokes with the guy back underground, Asgore was a bit of a pest. He was clingy and annoying, always asking for favors that he used as an excuse to hang out with Papyrus. Papyrus didn’t hate Asgore. But he was upset that his obligation to the former king meant doing whatever he said.

Fixing his air conditioning wouldn’t take very long, he hoped. Asgore’s AC went out pretty often, so he was familiar with how to fix it. As usual, though, Asgore insisted on conversation.

”Soo... um. How’s y/n?”

“He’s fine.”

”How is work?”

”It’s good.

He gave up eventually. But not before Papyrus all but lost his mind. By the time he was done, work hours were past over. He drove home in the rain.

When he walked into the house, you asked if he wanted takeout. He just grunted a “yes” and fell on the couch with all the drama he could muster.

”Rough day, huh?” You asked. He nodded.

“Asgore called again.” You winced. You knew he didn’t favor the guy.

"Yikes. How many times can a guy's air conditioning break?" you asked, the sarcasm laid on thick.

"I swear, it's the same problem every time. It's like he's breaking it on purpose. It's always so awkward there. I kinda hoped Chara would be there today, at least to make the conversation flow a little better. They were at Toriel's today, though."

Seeing him like this made you wish you could be there with him at work. You'd probably end up distracting him, but at least it wouldn't be so miserable for him all day. You loved the time you spent with him, however limited it was. He always knew exactly what to do and say to make you feel better. This time, though, he was the one who needed cheering up.

"I can take off work tomorrow to go with you," you offered. A lie. He smiled, relaxing a little bit. "I mean, if I'm there with you, work might not be so stressful."

"You'd do that?" he asked. His hands were behind his head now, and he began to slouch. You sat on the couch and curled up next to him. He put one arm over your shoulder.

"I'd do anything for you. This is nothing," you smiled. He looked down at you and cupped a hand under your chin. He kissed you, soft and slow. You could feel the frustration built up in his mind when you connected. His anger, his fear, and his love for you radiated throughout the room. When you were pressed against each other like this, nothing but the air separated you. Magic mixed between your SOULs, allowing you to see each others' immediate thoughts and feelings.

So when he pulled away, he looked concerned. He wrapped his arms around you in a giant, warm, bear hug.

"You're not taking off work tomorrow, are you?" he whispered. His mouth was close to your ear, so he had no need for being loud. You shook your head no. "How long... how long have you been out of a job, babe?"

When you tried to speak, tiny sobs escaped. "It happened last week. They started making budget cuts, and I apparently was one of them. They fired my entire team," you choked out. Glittering tears fell, not unnoticed by Papyrus. "Work is already so hard for you, and I didn't want to burden you,"

"Hey, look at me." You left your head hanging where it was. "Look in my eyes." You looked up. He smiled. "You are not a burden. I'm so sorry if I ever did anything to make you feel like you were." He paused, grabbing your hand and rubbing his thumb across the top. "Getting to share my life with you is a gift, and the bad comes with the good. You don't owe me positivity every second of your life. I'm here to love you through it all. Stars, baby, you can always talk to me, no matter what I've got going on. And, I'll kick the ass of whoever told you that you had to hide your negative feelings."

He placed his other hand on top of yours, effectively holding your hand in both of his. "This relationship is give and take. And, lately, I've been soaking up a lot. Why don't we do something you like? Whatever you want to do."

"Y-yeah," you sniffled. He wiped the remaining wetness from your face with his thumb and placed a kiss on your forehead. "Can we just stay like this for a bit?" you asked.

"Of course." He teleported you into bed without moving the position you were in. "I love you, y/n,"

"Love you too."

When you both fell asleep, no nightmares came.


End file.
